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  1. NatJ

    SILKIE FEED ADVICE

    Adult chickens can eat chick food too. So if you want, you can just go back to the same feed you used when they were chicks. The only special thing about layer feed is the amount of calcium: about three times as much as what chick feeds have. Hens that are laying eggs do need extra calcium to...
  2. NatJ

    Prolapsed Phallus

    Years ago, I read about this condition in a book on raising ducks. The advice basically worked out to: provide constant access to clean swimming water, and hope it fixes itself. I do not think the book said anything about what percent of the time it actually would get better. I got the idea...
  3. NatJ

    Chicken feed for mix flock - Why layer feed is bad for chicken in the long run?

    That's frustrating, that it does not tell the percentage of calcium. Since the feed says it is for starting poultry, then the calcium level is probably correct for non-laying birds. I think that food should be safe to feed to chickens of all ages, whether they are laying eggs or not. Just make...
  4. NatJ

    Chickens Won't Eat Corn or Milo

    It depends on why you want to give them scratch. If you want something that chickens like to eat, that will make them run to you when you come in sight, you can put some normal chicken feed (crumbles or pellets) in a dish and add water. Chickens seem to love it, and get really excited when they...
  5. NatJ

    Chicken feed for mix flock - Why layer feed is bad for chicken in the long run?

    When I look at the website, they seem to suggest that laying hens will have nicer feathers all year long if you feed them the higher-protein "feather fixer" feed instead of normal layer feed that has a slightly lower protein level. Edit to add quotes from the website: "complete nutrition to...
  6. NatJ

    Chicken feed for mix flock - Why layer feed is bad for chicken in the long run?

    The issue is calcium. That's it, no other reason. Most chickens need one amount of calcium, laying hens need a higher amount. I notice several other posters have provided more detail on why this is. In the USA where I live, any "layer" feed will have about three times as much calcium as other...
  7. NatJ

    Meat Bird Comparison: Freedom Ranger Hatchery White Ranger, FR New Hampshire, Cornish Rock Cross, and Ginger Broilers

    When I first read this, I thought you meant they were 2 years old and had never laid any eggs in their entire lives! As I read the next few posts, I see that they have laid eggs in the past, just not recently. That makes a lot more sense :) If you think they might have too much actual fat, I...
  8. NatJ

    Corid dosage for young chicks

    Regarding the protein percent: check your bag of All Flock Crumbles, and check the bag of chick starter. They might have the same protein level anyway, in which case there is no need to worry about the protein level. Yes, I agree with other posters that the level of protein in chick starter is...
  9. NatJ

    White OEGB and Black OEGB

    They might produce black chicks, or they might produce white chicks. In either case, the chicks might have bits of the other color showing in some places of their feathers when they grow up. There are several sets of genes that can make a chicken white, and they behave differently when crossed...
  10. NatJ

    What am I doing wrong?? Egg Eaters

    In that case, I would supplement that hen directly, not the whole flock.
  11. NatJ

    Experience with these rooster breeds?

    If you are willing to order from a hatchery, you could order several cockerels of each breed that sounds interesting. As they grow, cull the ones that are obviously wrong (failure to thrive, wry tail, crossbeak, crooked toes, extra-slow to mature, always a bully or always a victim, the one...
  12. NatJ

    What am I doing wrong?? Egg Eaters

    Do you know which one is laying the softshell eggs? If yes, it would probably be better to just give her calcium and not the others. For hens who are not laying, they do not need as much calcium as layer pellets have, and they definitely do not need more than that. Too much calcium can be...
  13. NatJ

    Food coloring in vent

    I've tried it. Grab the hen, easiest to get her off the roost at night but any time can work. Turn her upside down and drip a few drops of liquid food coloring on her vent. (Try not to get it anywhere else.) Then let the hen go and watch for colored eggs. I've had it work nicely. I've had...
  14. NatJ

    DIY whole grain feed mix

    If the grain mix is only part of the diet, then it doesn't have to meet all of the nutritional needs of the chickens-- but they do need access to the right things to meet the rest of their needs. Free ranging can be really hard to figure, because there is the question of what is actually there...
  15. NatJ

    DIY whole grain feed mix

    I think it's going to be too low in protein, and will be missing some vitamins & minerals. No, I don't know which ones, I just know that I've never yet seen a recipe that looked this simple that managed to account for everything. I am assuming you could provide oyster shell separately to take...
  16. NatJ

    Invisible fence for dog

    In that case, I might suggest a physical fence and also an electric or invisible fence. Electric fence or invisible fence will keep the dog from spending time digging or otherwise trying to get past the physical fence. The physical fence will keep the dog from running right through the invisible...
  17. NatJ

    Leg Bands?

    Have you considered plastic zip ties? You can use different colors rather than numbers, and that makes it easy to tell which chicken is which from a distance. If you have more chickens than colors, you can re-use legband colors on chickens of different colors (white chicken with a red band...
  18. NatJ

    DIY Ideas needed for meat bird feeder

    I have only used them hanging, so I can't be sure how they will perform otherwise. For those big ones, you can often adjust how deep the tube sits into the pan at the bottom. The deeper it is, the less feed they bill out. I once bought a cutsey little plastic version, and lots of feed was...
  19. NatJ

    What am I doing wrong?? Egg Eaters

    I see that recommended fairly often for egg-bound hens, and sometimes for hens that lay eggs with soft shells. Here is an example of such advice in a different thread:
  20. NatJ

    DIY Ideas needed for meat bird feeder

    Have you considered or tried the hanging tube kind? I'm thinking of the big metal ones that have a tube to hold the feed, and a pan at the bottom for the birds to eat the feed. Examples: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/harris-farms-30-lb-hanging-feeder-2167141...
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